Today’s Photo of the Day is from the second
Challenge Mondial Assistance Race from Cherbourg to Rimini for
60-foot trimarans.
Frank Cammas and crew sailed Groupama
across the finish line in a driving rain, finishing the 2,734-mile
course in 9 days and 15 hours for an average speed of 11.68 knots.
Four other boats finished within the next eight hours, so the
partying began.
Photo and Graphic Courtesy Challenge Mondial Assistance
Elite Keel Regatta
May 21 – San Francisco Bay
Seventy-two boats in seven one design classes
enjoyed perfect sailing on the Berkeley Circle last weekend for
San Francisco YC’s Elite Keel Regatta.
Eclipse
dominated the Express 37 fleet, Cavallino the Melges 24s
and I Love My Wife the Etchells. La Paloma won
the IOD class, Benino the Knarrs, Cool Breeze the
J/24s, and Nordic Belle the Folkboats. You can view complete
results at www.sfyc.org.
For a complete report, results and more
photos, see Race Sheet in the June issue of Latitude
38.
The J/24 winners demonstrate a
good set.
The Express 37 Golden Moon
Photos Latitude/Rob
This Melges driver sports a jaunty yellow helmet.
Etchells winner Craig Healy nailed this start.
Knarrs round the weather mark, where the Coast Guard searched
for evidence in the Laci Peterson case.
Knarrs are known for being wet boats.
Pretty red Folkboat with a dirty bottom
The Fall Could Have Easily Killed Him
May 21 – Sausalito
While dining out last night, we bumped
into Rann Phibbs, known to many people as the long-time store
manager – until two months ago – of the West Marine in Sausalito
and-long time crew on Pyewacket. Rann was smiling through
some obvious pain, so we asked him what happened. It turns out
that last week he was at the lower spreaders of a Swan 65 he
is working on, when the guy running the halyard – from a nearby
powerboat – didn’t appreciate how slippery new line can be. The
next thing Rann knew, he’d fallen about 30 feet onto the boom,
then bounced onto the deck. The fact the mainsail was on the
boom to cushion him very likely saved his life. As it was, he
suffered two or three broken ribs and a broken collarbone. So
if you see him, hold back on the tickling. And if you’re going
up the mast, or running the halyard for somebody going up the
mast, be careful!
It’s Dangerous on the Water, Too
May 21 – Atlantic Ocean
Ian Munslow, a 29-year-old sailor who has
qualified for the Mini Transat, was run down early yesterday
morning by a 90-foot French fishing trawler boat off the west
Brittany coast while participating in the first leg of the Mini
Pavois race from La Rochelle, France, to Portsmouth, England.
It had been blowing like stink the night before, so when it lightened
up the next morning, Munslow looked around, then went below to
take off his dry suit. When he got it half off, he heard a sound
like a car crash as the trawler came right into his boat. Fortunately,
Mini Transat boats have to be unsinkable, because he was soon
knee deep in water. Forty minutes later the French Coast Guard
picked him up.
Yellowfin, Yellowtail – You Mean There’s
a Difference?
May 21 – Pacific Ocean
“I don’t want to get nit-picky,”
writes David Dinah Moe Humm of Humboldt Bay, “but being
a sailor and fisherman, I’d like to point out an error in the May 19 ‘Lectronic. It’s no
big deal, but the fish in the Photo of the Day is a Yellowfin,
not a Yellowtail. There are Yellowtail, which is a member of
the Mackerel family, and there are Yellowfin tuna, but there
is no such thing as a Yellowtail tuna. Having said that, I’ve
been an avid reader since your first issue. You have the best
sailing rag I have ever read.”
A giant specimen of the Yellowfin tuna species Photo Courtesy Hana Pau
Thanks for the compliment – but even more,
thanks for the correction.
Tropical Storm Andres
May 21 – Pacific Ocean
It’s way south, it’s moving west, and it’s
premature. Nonetheless, Andres, the first tropical storm of the
Mexican season has come to life. The hurricane season doesn’t
officially start until June 1.
In the Atlantic, things have been more
bizarre. Ana, their first Tropical Storm, came around in the
third week of April, months before the official start of the
season. The Atlantic hurricane season doesn’t end until December
1, a month later than the Mexican hurricane season.
YOTREPS
May 21 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht
tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn.
Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southwest.shtml.
Pacific Winds and Pressure
The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric
pressure and winds.
